A child from the Australian state of Victoria became the first human case of avian influenza A (H5N1) infection in the country.
It was also Australia’s first detected case of the H5N1 strain.
The child acquired the virus while in India and experienced a severe infection, according to state health officials.
Australian authorities announced the first case of human bird flu hours after the avian influenza virus was detected at an egg farm in Victoria on Wednesday.
Hundreds of thousands of chickens have been euthanized to prevent an outbreak.
Humans contracting the bird flu virus are rare while there is no evidence that the H5N1 strains of avian influenza easily spread from human to human.
The deadly outbreak has affected every continent worldwide as of May 2024.
